On the role of legislative bodies of state power of subjects of the Russian Federation in toponymical naming regulation

We present a study of legislative regulation of toponymical processes in the subjects of the Russian Federation from 1994 to the present as exemplified Voronezh Region. We analyze regulatory legal acts of the Voronezh Region, which changed the toponymical system of the region (renaming, abolishing, merging, changing the status of individual settlements, changing the boundaries of municipalities). The purpose of the study is to show the role of legislative (representative) bodies of state power of the subjects of the Russian Federation in regulating naming processes in regional toponymy using the example of the Voronezh Regional Duma, which is a permanently acting supreme and the only legislative (representative) body of state power in the Voronezh Region. We conclude that it is necessary to establish uniform rules, norms and requirements for the names of geographic objects, the deviation from the established rules creates inconvenience for the population and investors, complicates the work of state bodies and local governments. In conclusion, we note that there are not all official changes of the Voronezh Region toponymicon in modern regional reference books and toponymical dictionaries, also there are not always the full details of a given regulatory legal act, according to which the settlement changed its status, was named or renamed, therefore it has become necessary nowadays to prepare and publish the “Toponymical Dictionary of the Voronezh Region”, which takes into account mentioned changes.

toponymy, naming, toponymical legislation, legislative bodies of state power, subject of the Russian Federation